James Arthur’s 25 Tattoos & Their Meanings

James Andrew Arthur professionally known as James Arthur is an English singer and songwriter who earned fame after winning the British ‘ninth series’ of ‘The X Factor’ in 2012. He embarked on his music career at a very young age by writing and recording songs both as a solo artist and in bands at that time. James’ tattoos and later on the expensive laser treatment to remove them, has gained a lot of public attention. Let’s read further to know more about his tattoos, along with their meanings. james arthur

1. ‘King Arthur with a reverse Queen’ Tattoo

king arthur tattoo

king arhur with a reverse tattoo

Tattoo: ‘King Arthur with a reverse Queen’ Tattoo on his right hand.

Meaning: James Arthur got inked ‘King Arthur with a reverse Queen’ tattoo by Kevin Paul, on his right hand, shortly after he won the ‘ninth series’ of ‘The X Factor’ in 2012. King Arthur was a legendary British leader at the time of the 5th and 6th centuries. Later, in 2017, James went under painful laser treatment for the removal of this tattoo and got inked a ‘black flying bird’ in place of his ‘reverse queen tattoo’. In an interview, James said,

“I’d say to all kids, don’t have a tattoo until you’re 21.”

king arthur tattoo removed

In an interview, James said,

“I’ve already had nine sessions, they take a while and cost a lot of money but it will be worth it.”

The celebrity tattooist Kevin Paul revealed,

“James Arthur got his King Arthur inspired tattoo removed because his mother hated it.”

2. ‘Teardrop’ Tattoo

teardrop tattoo on face

Tattoo: ‘Teardrop’ Tattoo near his right eye.

Meaning: James Arthur got a tiny ‘teardrop’ inked on his face, near his right eye. This was probably inked in 2012, after winning ‘The X Factor’ show. But, later in 2017, he decided to get rid of most of his tattoos to start his career in Hollywood. In an interview, he said,

“I really want to do acting and want to become a Hollywood filmstar. I genuinly love to be in movies. I am a massive film geek and I love movies. I don’t want to be typecast because of my tattoo.”

After his laser treatment, his teardrop tattoo is merely visible now. He tweeted,

“Laser tattoo removal is unreal, had my face tattoo lasered last week and it’s almost gone.”

teardrop tattoo after laser treatment

3. ‘Owl with a Rose’ Tattoo

owl tattoo on neck

owl with a rose

Tattoo: ‘Owl with a Rose’ Tattoo on the right side of his neck.

Meaning: An ‘owl with a rose’ tattoo represents transition, wisdom, knowledge, intuition, protection, and guardians of death. James got an ‘owl sitting on a rose’ inked on the right side of his neck. On February 23, 2019, he tweeted,

“I’ve decided to remove the owl on me neck. Dunt feel like me anymore and it may hold me back when pursuing other creative avenues. Also, I realize no one gives a fuck but I’m tweeting it anyway for the craic really.”

After this tweet, the number of his fans were upset about his decision to get this tattoo removed to which he again tweeted,

“Don’t worry I’ll get one on my back or my leg and the symbol remains.”

owl tattoo removed

James Arthur getting his owl tattoo removed with the laser treatment.

4. ‘Rose’ Tattoo

rose tat

Tattoo: ‘Rose’ Tattoo on his left shoulder.

Meaning: James has got a beautiful ‘rose’ tattoo inked on his left shoulder. Rose tattoos represents the optimism and new beginnings. Probably, he got this inked after winning ‘The X Factor’ show in 2012, to represent the new beginnings in his life.

5. ‘LOVE’ Tattoo

love tattoo

Tattoo: ‘LOVE’ Tattoo near his left shoulder.

Meaning: James got the word ‘LOVE’ inked in bold letters, near his left shoulder. This tattoo is located just below his rose tattoo. Once in an interview, James said,

“My music is about love, and I don’t discriminate against any type of person.”

6. ‘Flying Bird’ Tattoo

flying bird tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Flying Bird’ Tattoo on his right wrist.

Meaning: A black colored ‘flying bird’ is inked on his right wrist. This tattoo is inked in place of ‘reverse Queen’ tattoo. Flying birds are generally considered as the powers of God, bringing divine blessings.

7. ‘Floral Pattern’ Tattoo

floral pattern

floral patters 2

Tattoo: ‘Floral Pattern’ Tattoo on both of his forearms.

Meaning: James got a floral pattern of roses inked on both of his forearms. The flowers are inked in red and pink color, with green color leaves around it. Such type of sleeves tattoos are very common among celebrities and are inked to denote new beginnings, love, passion, and feelings.

8. ‘Tiny Heart’ Tattoo

tiny heart

Tattoo: ‘Tiny Heart’ Tattoo on his left hand.

Meaning: James Arthur got a tiny heart tattoo inked on his left hand, meaning emotions, love, feelings, and connections. In an interview, James said,

“When I’ve got a girlfriend, I like to be with them as much as possible, and I’m very affectionate.”

9. ‘Guitarist with Four Girls’ Tattoo

guitarist tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Guitarist with Four Girls’ Tattoo on his right forearm.

Meaning: James is very fond of sleeves tattoos and got his both arms covered with several tattoos. He has got a tattoo of a guitarist, sitting on a cushioned chair, with four girls surrounding him. This tattoo might be his portrait with his four sisters surrounding him. But, James has never explained the reason for getting this tattoo done on his forearm. In March 2019, James tweeted,

“Happy International Women’s Day. Mans was raised in a house full of women. I got 4 beautiful sisters and some influential women in my life that I’m mega grateful for. Keep fighting the fight, I stand beside ya my G’s!”

On his social media account, he tweeted,

“I grew up in a house full of women. I have four sisters. I’m more feminine than some gay men.”

So far, no official statement regarding this sleeve tattoo is made by James.

10. ‘His name initials’ Tattoo

JA tattoo

Tattoo: ‘His name initials’ Tattoo behind his left ear.

Meaning: James Arthur got the initials of his name ‘JA’ inked behind his left ear. This tattoo is inked in bold letters.

11. ‘Illuminati Hand’ Tattoo

illuminati hand tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Illuminati Hand’ Tattoo on the inner portion of his left arm.

Meaning: This tattoo represents the eye of God watching over humanity. James got an ‘Illuminati Hand’ tattoo inked on the inner portion of his left arm. Most of the tattoos of James are inked by the celebrity tattoo artist, Kevin Paul. But, this tattoo is inked by Kristian Richards at Frontier Tattoo Parlour in Cardiff.

12. ‘Portrait of a Woman’ Tattoo

woman portrait tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Portrait of a Woman’ Tattoo on the inner portion of his left forearm.

Meaning: James got a very beautiful ‘portrait of an unidentified woman’ inked on the inner portion of his left forearm.

13. ‘Dagger’ Tattoo

dagger tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Dagger’ Tattoo on his left forearm.

Meaning: Dagger tattoos have different meanings, depending upon the location and the theme, which a person opts while getting this tattoo inked. James has got this tattoo inked on his left forearm, just near to the tattoo of an unidentified woman.

14. ‘Angel’ Tattoo

angel tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Angel’ Tattoo on his right arm.

Meaning: James Arthus got an angel tattoo inked by Kevin Paul on his right hand. Such tattoos denotes protection and guidance from God. Around this tattoo, a beautiful pattern of flowers and clouds is inked.

15. ‘Heart and Dagger’ Tattoo

heart and dagger tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Heart and Dagger’ Tattoo on his right forearm.

Meaning: James got a ‘dagger going through a heart with an unidentified text on the heart banner’ inked on his right forearm. The dagger continues and ends at two beautiful roses. Generally, a dagger going through a heart represents betrayal, the feeling of hurt, and pain. This might be related to his bitter relationships with his ex-girlfriends or the broken marriage of his parents. But, no official reason or any statement regarding this is given by him.

16. ‘LOVE LIFE’ Tattoo

life tattoo

love font

love life tattoo

Tattoo: ‘LOVE LIFE’ Tattoo on the knuckles of his both the hands.

Meaning: James has got the text, ‘LOVE LIFE’ inked on the knuckle of his both the hands. Earlier, this text was inked in a simple font, later James got the font style of this tattoo changed. In an interview, James confessed that he hates tattooed on his knuckles and wants to get rid of them immediately. He said,

“I’ve already had nine sessions, they tale a while and cost a lot of money but it will be worth it.”

Most of the tattoos of James are either removed or modified now as he wants to enter Hollywood and start his acting career. He said,

“I really want to do acting and don’t want to be typecast because of my tattoos.”

James has undergone the laser treatment to get this tattoo removed which is evident from his recent pictures which shows that his ‘LOVE LIFE’ tattoo has faded away.

love life faded

17. ‘Flaming Candle’ Tattoo

flaming candle tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Flaming Candle’ Tattoo on the inner portion of his left arm.

Meaning: James Arthur got a ‘flaming tattoo’ inked on the inner portion of his left arm. It has a spiritual meaning behind it. It represents light over dark and good over evil.

18. ‘All the World’s a Stage’ Tattoo

chest tattoo

Tattoo: ‘All the World’s a Stage’ Tattoo on his chest.

Meaning: Tattoo which says, ‘All the World’s a Stage’ is inked on James Arthur’s chest. He got this tattoo inked in 2014.

19. ‘Tiger’ Tattoo

tiger 2

Tattoo: ‘Tiger’ Tattoo on his chest.

Meaning: James Arthur got a ‘tiger’ tattoo on his chest, just below his ‘All the World’s a Stage’ tattoo. This tattoo is inked by the tattoo artist, Clara Sinclair. She uploaded a picture of this tattoo on her twitter account with a caption,

“Finished this up pn the lovely @jamesarthur23. The proof is in the puddin, you can be at the top of your craft and still be an awesome, down to earth human. Thanks for the trust and the great banter.”

To this, James replied,

“look forward to doing more with you! You’re the woman to go for great tattoos and great vibes :)! And great cats!”

Earlier James made a statement of not getting more tattoos inked on his body and confessed that he hates every one of them. But later he shocked his fans by getting this tiger tattoo inked on his chest in March 2019.

20. ‘JA with a Crown’ Tattoo

ja tattoo 2

ja with a crown

Tattoo: ‘JA with a Crown’ Tattoo on his right hand.

Meaning: James had got ‘JA with a Crown’ tattoo inked on his right hand, just near his ‘King Arthur’ tattoo. But, now this tattoo is removed as James went under several laser treatments.

ja tattoo removed

21. ‘If we go down then we go down together’ Tattoo

lyrics of song tattoo

Tattoo: ‘If we go down then we go down together’ Tattoo on his right forearm.

Meaning: James got the lyrics of the song ‘Paris’ by ‘Chainsmokers’ inked on his right forearm. It states, ‘If we go down then we may go down together’. In an open interview, one of James’ fans asked about his favorite tattoo, to which James replied that his favorite tattoo on his body is the lyrics of the song Paris, saying, ‘If we go down then we go down together.’ He confessed that this tattoo is related to his four best friends in the entire world.

22. ‘Unidentified Text’ Tattoo

unidentified text 2

Tattoo: ‘Unidentified Text’ Tattoo on the inner portion of his right arm.

Meaning: An unidentified text tattoo is inked on the inner portion of the right arm of James Arthur. No clear information regarding this is available.

23. ‘Devil’ Tattoo

devil face tattoo

Tattoo: ‘Devil’ Tattoo on his left arm.

Meaning: James had got a ‘devil face’ inked on his left arm. Later, James got this tattoo modified and got an eagle inked over it.

eagle tattoo

24. ‘Eagle’ Tattoo

an eagle cover

Tattoo: ‘Eagle’ Tattoo on his left arm.

Meaning: James got an eagle tattoo inked over his devil tattoo. Such tattoos symbolize the ‘Great Spirit’ who is above all power and strength.

25. ‘Anatomical Heart with an Arrow’ Tattoo

anatomical heart

Tattoo: ‘Anatomical Heart with an Arrow’ Tattoo on his right arm.

Meaning: James got an ‘anatomical heart with an arrow tearing it apart and the blood-shedding out of it’ tattoo inked on his right forearm. This tattoo represents hardships, troubles, betrayal, pain, and suffering in relationships.

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